blood tests. Mrs. McBride's hemoglo- bin level had dropped to 9.7 and her hematocrit reading had gone to 28.9. Her symptoms, moreover, had inten- sified. Her abdominal pains, she told Dr . Wallace, were now cramps- frequent, colicky cramps. Also, she didn't seem to have any strength, and she was often out of breath. Dr. Wal- lace was puzzled, but more puzzled than alarmed. She decided against any attempt at symptomatic treatment. She drew another sample of blood, asked for another stool sample, and made an appointment for Saturday. By the time Mrs. McBride arrived for her Saturday appointment, Dr. Wallace had received a report on the blood drawn two days before. Mrs. McBride's hemoglobin level had fallen again, to 9.1. Her hematocrit reading was 28.8. Dr. Wallace began to feel uneasy. "Before my eyes, before my very eyes, she was losing blood," she said. "But where was it going? There was no blood in her stool. There was no blood in her urine. She wasn't vomiting. There was no strong evi- dence of hemolysis, or early breakage of the red cell. I thought; I racked my brains. Her symptoms were non-spe- cific. No help there. Then I remem- bered medical school. I remembered they used to say, 'Look at the blood smear.' Medical school is sometimes right. So I prepared some blood and put it under the microscope. And I saw something. The red blood cells were spotted. I saw the blue marks that we call basophilic stippling. About forty per cent of the red blood cells were stippled. Now I knew some- thing. Stippling suggests toxicity. Her red blood cells were being destroyed. It wasn't certain. It wasn't specific. Stip- pling occurs in several diseases. But I thought, What does this woman do? Answer: She is an art conservator, a restorer. She works in art. Art materi- als are chemicals. She works with chemicals. Paint is a chemical. Paint! Lead poisoning! I had never seen a case of lead poisoning in an adult. But I believed I had one now. Her symp- toms began to have some meaning. The colicky cramps, the fatigue, the irritability-all those are symptoms of lead poisoning. What to do? "I told Mrs. McBride what I thought, what I suspected. I said that if my presumptive diagnosis was cor- rect the source of her illness was al- most certainly something in her work- room, her studio. The first thing to do was to remove her from that source of contamination. I told her to stop 95 KRUPS QUALITY... BY DESIGN! s \.._:"r:::.. .. ::..' .. . . :.:..:: : ::: ".; . \. :.:.:: .: ::: ; .: :.":":: ,,: ".; ':::::"":."'-.:: ':. ." ".; 0"'"'. .: ,. - :-.,.:. .. . .: , ? .. ':.- ..:.:.,:: ;,:. (::.:f .:, :. .: ;:> ,;.:: :::. :.:J and SO froth. 'tJ:" ... J. -: true espresso. . . 2- cupslinto its carafe or cups. Here are two different '--'i · "r. and cippuccino approaches to makjng , $ince it takes a great I authentic Italian espreSSQ ctip of espresso to ,__ The pump pressure make a great cup of system on ps 1.\\ cappuccino, you've ' ESpreS$6Plus" forces a1r<þady got a head start water tlírough the ground And Krupß powerful espresso coffee, st am-system tops it off, delivering two CUp$ -" frót?ing r lk into a delidIte .of delicÏQus "cre-ma" I, toppmg. . - espresso every 30 Then you can go froth and second = ' . add putmeg 1 _ semisweet Mean ile, the cho late flakes, a ci nam " spre 0 Mini" serves StlC And taste pe chon. i 19 Robert , North Amenca, !oster, JJ. 07624 Great shave, great price \.- --< For the closest shave abroad or at home use our Eltron Universal Shaver. It operates cordless or plug-in, 110/220V. It has a trimmer, a built-in charger, cleaning brush, mirrored travel case, and the greatest touch going Our gift to you with purchase. . . a bedside travel alarm clock with quartz movement and repeat alarm Comes in a travel case and takes "AA" battery (a $35. value). The Hoffritz Eltron Shaver, #41475. Reg. $150 Sale $110. CAN'T DECIDE? Give a Hoffntz Gift Certificate and you know you've made a Just-right choice. .< " .. 6,1( :::: ::: v- _- :;: ;.:: .; , : ':; :; :t::; f : : < , :",.... , <, " , \ , Wt:<- HOffRITZ o SHOP IN PERSON SHOP BY PHONE SHOP BY MAIL. Visit your fayorite Hoffritz for complete selections. Or call toll-free-1-800-431-9003-24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Shipping and handling $350 per order. Add area sales tax Use MCNisaJDlnerslCB/AE/Choice Dept C705L, 515 West 24th Street, New York, NY 10011